With the right tools and technology, a smart guy or gal like you can design, prototype, and manufacture the product of your dreams.

Design

Design

The first step is to perfect your world-changing widget. Computer-aided design (CAD) software used to be pricey and hard to use, but new tools such as Autodesk 123D Design, Blender, Google SketchUp, and Tinkercad make designing virtual 3D objects easy. Or build your widget by hand, and use Autodesk's 123D Catch to convert digital images of it into a CAD file.

Prototyping

Prototyping

Good job! You've figured out the basic shape of your widget. Now it's time to build a prototype to test and show off to investors. You can do it the old-fashioned way—in your basement with X-ACTO knives and glue—or you can take advantage of a wealth of new resources and tools. Desktop 3D printers, laser cutters, and CNC routers can whip out precision parts—and they have gotten cheap enough for ordinary citizens to own. If you'd rather not spend your seed money on equipment, you can send your CAD files to Shapeways' 3D printing service, or join a maker collective such as TechShop or NextFab for access to any tool you can think of for less than $125 per month.